Goal orientations of health profession students throughout the undergraduate program: a multilevel study

BMC Medical Education

Research Article

Debbie Jaarsma¹  Tim Mainhard²  Ada Kool²  Mieke Brekelmans²  Peter van Beukelen³ 

[1] Center for Research and Innovation in Medical Education, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands;Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, Netherlands;Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands;

关键词: Academic Achievement;    Individual Student;    Grade Point Average;    Goal Orientation;    Mastery Goal;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-016-0621-5

 received in 2015-08-26, accepted in 2016-03-22,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe achievement goal theory defines two major foci of students’ learning goals (1) primarily interested in truly mastering a task (mastery orientation), and (2) striving to show ones competences to others (performance orientation). The present study is undertaken to better understand if and how health profession students’ goal orientations change during the undergraduate program and to what degree gender, academic achievement, and self-efficacy are associated with mastery and performance orientation between students and within students over time.MethodBy means of an online questionnaire, students of medical, pharmaceutical, and veterinary sciences (N = 2402) were asked to rate themselves on mastery orientation, performance orientation, and self-efficacy at the beginning of five consecutive semesters. Data on grades and gender were drawn from university’s files. Multilevel analyses were used for data analysis.ResultsStudents’ goal orientations showed relative stability over time, but substantial fluctuations within individual students were found. These fluctuations were associated with fluctuations in self-efficacy. Students’ gender, high school grades, study grades, and self-efficacy were all associated with differences in mastery or performance orientation between students. Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor for mastery orientation and grades for performance orientation.ConclusionsThe relatively strong association between the goal orientations and students’ self-efficacy found in this study emphasizes the potential of enhancing self-efficacy in health profession students. Also, for educators and researchers, fluctuations of both goal orientations within individual students are important to consider.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Kool et al. 2016